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Stranger of the Past
Stranger of the Past is a story written by the wiki founder. It is the first story in Defenders of Earth and thus the first to feature Firroth; but it is the only time when he is a villain. Synopsis In the 51st Century, a criminal group known as the Bulgarian Vixens carry out a heist in major Bulgarian cities which are very successful and as a result steal large amounts of money, jewelry and gold. But when the vixens plan to steal a horde of gold rumored to have been found on the mountains of Bulgaria, all hell breaks loose. Plot In the 51st Century, the world undergoes a reversal of fortune: The West, once democratic and heroically depicted is now in a state of chaos and anarchy while the East, once dictatorial and depicted as an antagonist is now calm and democratic. ]] One night in the city of Sofia in Bulgaria, a guard duty is taking place of a Wreath from the 4th Century BC belonging to a Bulgarian aristocrat; as the sentry duty begins, a woman enters the museum dressed in black to steal the wreath. This woman is actually the Bulgarian criminal Borislava Vasilova Ilseva who flees from the museum straight into the city where the police are searching for her; fortunately, she hitches a ride which takes her far away from the city and straight to an army base but she escapes before it gets there; as she watches the truck leave, Borislava looks on towards a house and at first is very wary about wanting to go there because she thinks that either the police will be using it for unknown reasons, the army will use it as a base or it will be used as a hideout for rival criminal gangs. However, Borislava goes to investigate the house because she thinks that if she doesn't go to investigate, she will never know if the house is friendly or hostile and so makes "the longest journey of her entire life" and the journey is also described as being a benefit to her and the best hope of accommodation especially since she has abandoned her lift out of Sofia and is now a thousand miles at least from the city. .]] Having taken a rest in the grass, Borislava begins to make her journey which overwhelms her. Not so much emotionally but more physically, particularly due to the rough terrain and despite being relatively light she is described as being like a recruit from the French Foreign Legion thanks to the organization's technique of making recruits march laps in boots with no laces carrying a rucksack filled with rocks and the straps replaced with wires. On the journey, Borislava is described as aching all over and wanting a rest but her heart pushes her to continue and she eventually reaches the Sanctum which is actually a hospitable place as shown when she enters and sees paintings of vixens all over the house when she enters. Inside the house, Borislava makes her way to the dining room and takes a seat where she and the other women in the room await something or someone. The person that certainly makes an entrance into the room is the leader of the Vixens Stanislava Iskrenova Blagoeva and when she enters, Borislava and the other Vixens follow the traditional Vixen greeting in placing their hands on their hearts but Blagoeva is in no mood for respect. Instead, she is more focused on seeing how the Vixens have done; as Stanislava watches the Vixens unload their loot, Borislava watches on. After Borislava shows her the wreath stolen from the museum, so does Blagoeva who boasts that her loot is enough to bankrupt a business; after Stanislava reveals her loot, more and more Vixens show their own loot. The total loot stolen by the Vixens impresses Stanislava immensely and she describes the amount stolen as enough to bankrupt thirty six businesses if not thirty six more. Stanislava has further praise for her accomplices and comments that the loot is also enough to make them the richest women in Bulgaria and could even make their others the richest criminal organization in the whole of Eastern Europe. The Vixen's chances of getting even richer are increased by word of mouth of a hoard of gold in the Bulgarian mountains that is guarded by a fire breathing dragon. And it is said that anyone manages to steal from it, they could be even richer. Stanislava immediately decides she would love to steal the gold and asks who should carry out the robbery but ultimately gives the job to Miroslava Blagoeva. When the thief is decided, the Vixens head up to the mountains to try and steal from the dragon. Once they get to the mountains, Miroslava enters the mountains to discover that the legend told by Grozdana is true and so is the dragon guarding it. She tries to steal all of it at once but remembers the principle of "Take what you need." and also the plan that Stanislava made: Miroslava will enter the lair of the dragon, take out a large amount of gold, bring it to the Vixens and invite them inside so they can steal the rest of the gold without waking the dragon. Unfortunately, this does not go to plan; While granted she manages to keep the dragon asleep, Miroslava climbs to the top of the pile in an attempt to start at the top and work her way down but on the way up she loses her foot and causes an avalanche of gold to bury her in gold which also wakes the dragon. As the dragon wakes up, Miroslava does not turn to fight the dragon like she would fight any of her enemies but instead turns to run and hide as the dragon is revealed as Firroth. Miroslava remains hiding as Firroth emerges and tries to keep on hiding even as Firroth tries to coax her out by taunting her psychologically; finally, he coerces Miroslava out of hiding by the fact that she is in an impossible situation: Either she reveals herself to Firroth and dies if he eats her or she leaves the cave and ends up in police custody alongside the rest of the Vixens if the Bulgarian authorities ever catch them. Once the Vixen is forced out of hiding, she manages to successfully convince Firroth not to eat her by lying to him in saying that she did not come to steal from him (which she did) and instead merely came to see him in his great glory. She further claims that she did not believe the legends of him which in turn results in her telling another lie because Miroslava has heard several legends and stories of the dragon before; the dragon later retreats and allows Miroslava to see him in his great glory and asks her: "And, do you NOW?!" The Vixen tries to get on the right side of Firroth but he accuses her of flattery and asks her if it will keep her alive which Miroslava replies that she does not think that flattery will keep her alive. The dragon replies that she seems familiar with his name but he has not recalled seeing her before so asks her name and origins which results in Miroslava making up all sorts of riddles and ridiculous titles including the title "The Shadow Vixen". It is this title which makes Firroth react violently and chase Miroslava out of his home. As she flees out of the cave pursued by Firroth, she is greeted by Stanislava but the Vixen screams to get away from the cave entrance and ultimately Stanislava orders the Vixens to retreat. With her fellow Vixens, Miroslava can only watch in horror as the dragon terrorizes the city of Sofia. Like the Gyaos in their first appearance, Firroth's first attack is at the Sofia metro where he destroys several buildings and the roof of the Metro. As Bulgarian locals flee from his wrath, the dragon kills five locals by incinerating them with a full ray of fire which reduces the locals to ashes. Two hours pass and Firroth has devastated much of Bulgaria. The only city that remains standing is the city of Burgas where the Bulgarian Armed Forces put up a fight against him; one soldier attacks him with a machine gun but it only irritates Firroth and makes him attack more. His fight with the Armed Forces barely takes a minute because when he lands, the dragon causes an earthquake with his tail and a hurricane with his wings which puts all of the land forces out of action. Finally, the dragon moves on to the navy and air force where he sinks all the ships of the former and outwits the aircraft of the latter; even the supersonic jet fighters. The dragon returns to finish off the army and destroys all of the men, leaving the sergeant who was leading the operation the last man standing; all that stands between life and death for the sergeant now is a 9K38 Igla MANPADS. The sergeant now stands his ground against Firroth by taking aim at the dragon waiting for him to fly low enough to shoot at and finally monologues about giving the dragon a decent enough burial place in the black sea: "In all my times in the army, I've battled insurgents, terrorists and enemy countries. And they've always died on land. But this foe is not a human but a monster, so this missile deserves to give him a final resting place in the sea...Go now and speed well!" With this monologue, Firroth comes in to attack and as a result the sergeant fires the missile causing it to shoot at Firroth's underbelly and when it does, it detonates and sets the dragon on fire. The burning dragon meets his death when he drowns in the Black Sea. As he burns, the dragon's body becomes a beacon to the Bulgarian Vixens. The Vixen's leader Stanislava Blagoeva instantly takes Firroth's death as a warning because it means that all blame for the destruction of Bulgaria will lie firmly with the Vixens and if they are to continue operating, it means they now have to go undercover; but Alexandra believes that Firroth will come back. Category:Literature